U.S. To Continue Full Support To NATO

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28150, 13 December 1956, Page 15

U.S. To Continue Full Support To NATO

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) PARIS, December 12. The American Secretary of State (Mr Dulles) assured Western Foreign Ministers last night that the United States would continue to give its full backing to the Atlantic Alliance. Speaking to the NATO Ministerial Council, Mr Dulles said the world was living through a time fraught with grave danger and it was of the utmost importance that NATO maintain its strength and leave no doubt that it could be used if need be. “Only then ean we be confident that the Red Army tanks that rolled into Budapest will not roll on into Western Europe,” he said.

Mr Dulles’s speech made a heartening impression among the NATO Ministers, according to Reuter’s diplomatic correspondent. He had the support of most Ministers when he asserted that the situation in Europe was still very dangerous. However, in emphasising that the danger lay there rather than in the Middle East, Mr Dulles differed from Britain and France.

Mr Dulles told the council that the United States could not accept that each nation subject to injustice should try to remedy it by the use of force.

But—in an obvious reference to Britain and France—he pointed out that some nations, in spite of their own views and interests, had conformed to the resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, while the Assembly resolutions on Hungary had been disregarded.

Speaking of future policy for NATO. Mr Dulles emphasised that decisions must not invite the economic collapse of member states.

Referring to Russia, Mr Dull 3 said it was necessary to rely on moral pressure to disrupt the powerful Soviet despotism. Meanwhile, it was necessary for the West to have the defence and military capacity to resist the Soviets, who were trying to make the greatest military machine ever known in the world.

He said that the Atlantic Pact nations also faced the problem of closer and more intimate understanding between them on foreign policy. “At previous meetings we alluded to problems, such as the Middle East, which, vitallv affect Western Europe. We did nothing to seek common policies with respect to these other vital problem® which threaten the very life of our alliance.”

After the session at which Mr Dulles spoke, the full British and United States delegates met to discuss future Pritish-American relations. Mr Dulles the Treasury Secretary (Mr G. Humnhrey). the Defence Secretary (Mr C. Wilson), and the chairman of the Upited States Joint Chiefs of Staff (Admiral A. Radford) renresented the United States. British Ministers present were the Foreign Secretary (Mr Selwyn Lloyd), the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Harold Macmillan) and the Minister of Defence (Mr Anthonv Head).

The discussions, called on British initiative. did not touch on Middle East problems.